Page 71 of Tortured Soul
The silence was deafening as I cleared my throat, turning my face to the side to escape his gaze.
“That’s why I hide them. That way people don’t expect anything from me. That way people don’t expect me to fight back when they attack, which they always end up doing, anyway.”
I think about that demon in the street the night before. I think about Carter teleporting me to the library, only to insult me and Dimitri to my face.
I might not have done a great job defending myself against the first one, but Carter was definitely taken by surprise.
“No more hiding,” he whispered, rubbing the tip of his nose against the shape of my ear. “No more secrets.”
I scoffed, turning my face back to his, knocking his nose with mine.
“Why am I the only one getting questioned? I don’t know much about you either,” I said, trying to deviate the focus of the conversation.
“You can ask me whatever you want.”
I opened my mouth to talk but fell short.
There was a lot I wanted to know. About him. About this place. AboutCarter.
But we had just fought. And kissed. And it felt too intimate to ask him personal questions right now.
“Tell me something I don’t know—no, tell me somethingno oneknows about you and this place.”
He seemed to think about it for a moment, adjusting his legs in a way that made me lift mine above his unconsciously. The energy started transferring from the underside of my thigh, where our skin touched and goosebumps traveled up my body.
“The camp has been receiving threats for a few months. I mean—I’vebeen receiving them. Some Immortals that were missing were found dead on our doorsteps with notes carved in their bodies. Notes addressed to me. Taunting me.”
He straightened up, leaning back on his haunches and giving me a full view of his chiseled chest. His eyes were worried, calculating.
“Carter and Carrie are the only ones who know. We think that wherever our people are being taken to when they disappear is run by one or many Immortals, and they’re playing with us. We’re not sure why.
“That’s why I was out of my mind when I saw you out in a pool of blood, without even taking notice of the color of it. That’s why Carrie and Carter were suspicious of you at first. At least for Carter, it wasoneof the reasons.”
I pulled myself up using my elbows to sit back up, facing him.
He caught my ankles and I tensed as he pulled on my legs to make me lie down again. “Time for bed, blondie.”
I groaned but didn’t fight back when he lay next to me, pulling me in his arms before placing both his hands behind his head. Respecting my boundaries.
Boundaries that I was slowly starting to regret as I kind of wanted his hands all over me right now.
“The papers you found were actually really helpful,” he said as my hands were moving on their own accord, caressing his chest. “Come to Carrie’s office tomorrow. We’ll tell you what we know and what we found out.”
I nodded, still a little shocked about his revelations. I wasn’t expecting him to tell me something like this. And I really wasn’t expecting to feel that worried about it.
Chapter 22
Lola
It was quiet. Peaceful. I was enveloped in warmth but not suffocating from the usual heat that had been plaguing me since I arrived in this damned state.
My body was more relaxed than it’s been for a very long time, and I could feel my energy and power tickling under my skin the way it did when my well was full.
A content sigh escaped my lips as I kept my eyes closed and snuggled my face against the pill—no, not a pillow. It was too hard to be one.
But it was so soft too. And that smell…warm cinnamon. A scent that grew more and more familiar in the last couple of days.Weeks. A scent that woke some long buried instinct in my brain and core.
I took a deep inhale and shifted on the surface I was laying on, moaning softly from the satisfaction of my body and mind feeling so rested and calm.
